Unity of Houses
by writingtoimprove
Summary: Follow the unusual friendship of Cleo Cassidy, Ellie Baylee, Penny Taine and Emephia Virgo as they experience their last two years at Hogwarts, breaking stereotypes and finding romance.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors note: So this a story I came up with when I wondered what it would be like having students from all houses being best friends. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it or when it'll finish, I'm thinking either when my main characters graduate Hogwarts or when the war ends. I guess it'll depend on the response I get from you readers!**_

 _ **Additional note: I'm trying to stick(ish) to canon and the wizard timeline, but the muggle one is completely out of it. For example, the first chapter mentions Google even though Google wasn't founded until 1998 (and this story starts in 1994). So please keep this in mind when reading. I guess all that's left to say is I hope you enjoy the story and please review if you have anything to say (it helps more than you think).**_

Cleo:

"How dare they do that to the muggles!"

"I know, the dark mark was projected in the sky after. It was horrible."

Silence filled the compartment after Penny finished her experience at the quidditch world cup final. As a muggleborn, I spent the past summer with my family without magic. My only connection to the magical world had been through the letters that my three best friends (Penny, Emephia and Ellie) had sent me. Penny had mentioned the attack on muggles at the world cup in writing, but this was the first time that I had heard the whole story.

Emephia and Ellie, who grew up in the magical world, had also not been at the match between Bulgaria and Ireland. They knew more about the incident than I did, due to the daily prophet, but were as eager to hear about it from someone who had been there. That's why, as soon as the we all found an empty compartment on the Hogwarts express and gotten comfortable, we hounded on Penny to give us the details. Penny, loving attention as she always does, had been telling the story for the past half hour. Not leaving a single part out.

"What's the dark mark?" I asked, breaking the silence. I was sitting curled up next to the window, nervously fiddling with my hands. The thought of what happened to those innocent muggles left me feeling sick. When Penny mentioned it in her letters, I didn't understand exactly how bad the situation was.

"It's like the death eater's trademark logo," Emephia answered, frowning. The blonde girl was sitting opposite me with her legs crossed, obviously as disturbed as I was.

"It's a skull with a snake coming out its mouth," added Ellie, laying beside Emephia. She also wore a frown. I knew what happened was scary. I couldn't imagine what it had been like for those poor muggles. The thought that wizards would want to hurt people because of their blood was disgusting. That could have been anyone hanging in the air, those death eaters didn't care. A shiver of fear suddenly ran through my body at the thought of any of my family and friends back home in Brighton in the place of those poor people. However, I had a feeling that the frowns on the other girls faces were mainly to do with the wizards who committed the act. I knew basis around the last war with you-know-who and his death eaters, but I hadn't grow up hearing about the war from people who had experienced it like my friends had. I didn't know the aftermath of the war as much as they did.

"Death eaters used to project the dark mark over places where they'd committed murder," Penny, beside me, explained. "It's not a good sign that it's shown up again."

I tried picturing the mark hovering over a camping field, like it had in the world cup. The reason for the skull was obvious, with the whole death thing. But the snake coming out its mouth? That's a bit weird. What's the snake for?

"What's the snake got to do with death?" I finally mused out loud, actually wanting to know the answer. Odd looks covered the girls faces.

"Out of all that, you're questioning the design of the mark?" Emephia smirked. I could see Penny also holding back a laugh.

"What?" I cried in defence, "I don't wanna know the reason behind any of the other stuff. The logo seemed the less likely to scar me for life." Ellie chuckled at this and grabbed a chocolate frog from her trunk, accidentally bumping into Emephia on the way and laughing. This made inwardly sigh with relief as it seemed that my musings had lifted the tension in the compartment.

"In that muggle book you gave me Cleo, they say that the snake is a phallic symbol." Ellie told me, biting the head off her frog. Emephia and I immediately erupted into laughter and Penny just shook her head and placed her head in her hands.

"What books have you been giving her?!" She cried. The black locks of her hair bouncing as she chuckled.

"Just some psychology GCSE textbook that my sister gave me when she finished school." I answered in-between fits of laughter. I'd read through it for light reading and found it quite amusing. Ellie has a massive obsession with muggles and their culture, so I just gave her anything that I didn't need any more. Mary, my sister, finished secondary school a few years ago, and didn't think the book to be any use to her in college since she wasn't taking psychology onto A-level. Since it hadn't been any use to me either, I decided to give it to Ellie. Oh merlin, I hoped she didn't start going all deep and meaningful into everything. This present may have been a mistake.

"It's about how the mind works and how we perceive everything!" Ellie's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. I smiled at her reaction. Ellie's love for the muggle world was the same, maybe more, as my love for the wizard world. Finding out about magic had been the best thing to ever happen to me and I've tried to find out as much as I could about their culture. Though, I would never forget where I came from and believe that the wizard world needs some muggle. Phones, for example. There isn't much I wouldn't do to use a phone instead of an owl to contact home. The internet as well, it's tiring having to look through loads of books in the library to find something. Things would be so much easier if I could just google the ingredients to potions and how to pronounce certain charms.

"We should probably get into our robes," Emephia suggested after calming down, "the train will be at Hogsmeade soon."

* * *

"I can't wait to see everyone again!" Ellie chirped as we climbed into the carriage. I nodded in agreement.

"Me either! I wonder how Poppy got on with moving house." I said happily. Poppy Birkshore was one of my dorm-mates and she'd been talking about the new house since christmas holidays 5th year.

"I hope she hates it." Penny screwed her face up. Emephia adopted the same expression right after.

"Don't be so mean," I sighed, "she's been so excited about it." I knew it probably wasn't going to make any difference, but I still had to try. They needed to sort things out with Poppy. Penny rolled her dark brown eyes at me.

"Yeah, I know. She hasn't shut up about it since last christmas." She plonked herself down across the back seat, her green tie coming loose and swinging slightly to the right. The three of us left standing stumbled as the magical carriage jostled to life. I grabbed Emephia's shoulder for support and she collapsed backwards on the bench not occupied by Penny, letting out a small surprised screech. Ellie almost fell but managed to stay standing. She then immediately placed herself next to Emephia, obviously not wanting to fall if she lost her footing again. As a natural klutz, I took a few moments longer to regain balance. I walked over to Penny's side, moved her feet and sat down. She placed her legs back after I got comfortable.

"Anyway, Cleo, we can say what we want about her. Poppy doesn't like us either." Emephia perked up. She had a point, I was stubborn to admit. If they were going to make up, Poppy was going to have to co-operate too. I settled to deal with this problem later on.

"Sort your tie out, Pen. It's annoying me." Ellie whined, her eyes staring daggers at where Penny's tie was now almost completely off her neck and on the floor of the carriage.

"Your face is annoying me," Penny retorted with an amused glint in her eyes. Ellie huffed in frustration.

"Your presence is annoying me."

"Your existence is annoying me."

"Just sort your tie out already!"

"Only if you do". Ellie frowned.

"There's nothing wrong my tie." She stated, giving Penny an odd look.

"Yeah there is, it's around your neck," Penny explained, eyes staring up at the night sky. Her hands moved with each syllable, as if she was talking to a five year old. Confusion covered Ellie's face and she looked at Penny like she was mad.

Penny then looked up at Ellie, took her feet off me, sat up straight on the seat and gave her a sweet innocent smile. I shared a confused look with Emephia, who shrugged. Ellie squinted suspiciously at our slytherin friend and leaned forward.

"You alright there P- AHH!" Ellie cried as Penny tackled her. Emephia tried to shush them. I wouldn't be surprised if all the other carriages could hear the commotion.

"PENNY TAINE GET OFF-"

"Give me your tie!"

"-ME NOW I SWEAR TO MER-"

"I'll get off when I get the tie!"

"-LIN I WILL MURDER YOU! THAT HURT YOU BI-"

"YES! I got the tie!" Penny was jumping out of the moving carriage and racing in the direction of the castle. Emephia and I, now crying with laughter, watched Ellie herself jump off the carriage and chase after Penny.

"GIVE ME THAT BACK NOW!"

"Nope! I think I want to be a gryffindor now! Do you wanna swap houses?!"

I watched as their figures disappeared off the path. Their voices started to drift away, becoming hard to figure out what they were saying. Jesus, they were drama queens. Emephia slowly stood up and strolled to the opposite side of the carriage to retrieve Penny's tie.

"All that because Ellie wanted Penny to fix her tie." I shook my head and chuckled. Emephia swung the strip of green fabric around her hand.

"We need to get ourselves some new friends." She claimed. I agreed, though I knew I would be lost without our two eccentric, noisy, theatrical friends.

The two girls returned not long after Emephia settled back down across from me. Ellie's usual shoulder length wavy brown hair was sticking up in every direction possible and dirt covered her crumpled uniform from head to toe. However, she climbed in with a victorious smirk across her face and the gryffindor tie around her neck.

Penny clambered in the carriage looking just as disheveled. Bits of twigs, dirt and I didn't want to know what else had gotten tangled into her long dark hair. Her battered uniform was ripped in places and she was missing a shoe. Surprisingly, she too had a smile on her face, though it was obvious that she had lost.

"Bloody hell, why are you so dirty?" Emephia asked in disgust. She pressed her mouth in a thin line and kept her distance by backing away from them.

"Went into the forest. Fell in a ditch." Ellie answered simply. She walked with a bounce in her step towards me, bits of leaves falling out on the way and on the floor.

"We decided not to trade houses after all." Penny added. Emephia sighed and placed a hand to her face, making it look as if they gave her a headache. We all knew she was playing though, she was most likely trying to hide her smile. Penny and Ellie were the loud ones of the group. They thrived off attention, tend to over exaggerate everything and never seem to be able to sit still for long periods of time. The Professors at Hogwarts had learnt very early to keep them apart in lessons. Even their differences complimented each other well. Penny looked for fights wherever she can get them, but Ellie's calculating and was could good at telling how good odds Penny had at winning and hold's her back at times.

"Are you really going to walk into the great hall looking like that?" Ellie groaned at Emephia's question and dropped next to me, putting her head on my shoulder.

"I'd forgotten about the welcome feast." She mumbled into my uniform. I moved my arm behind Ellie and patted her back in comfort, ignoring the dirt that was probably now all over my uniform. Opposite me, Penny had managed to snatch her tie from Emephia and wrapped it back around her neck.

"Aww, Ellie, you worried about a certain ravenclaw seeing you?" Penny teased. Ellie murmured something that vaguely sounded like "maybe". I felt a pang of pity for my gryffindor friend. She'd had this crush since fourth year, and being that nervous at the thought of Roger seeing her in that state made me a little sad. I doubt he would care about seeing her covered in dirt, but Ellie sure thought it.

"I saw Davies getting on the train, he had obviously been playing quidditch through the summer. He definitely wasn't that bulky last term." Emephia smirked as Ellie's face reddened, "you know who I also saw? Ryan Maybell. I heard that he got in a fight last month with his cousin Brenneth over some veela girl they met on holiday in Australia..."

We spent the rest of the ride with Emephia telling us all the gossip she'd heard so far. She's basically the queen of rumours, Emephia was. She never created them, but did spread them like fire. People were constantly coming to her, asking about what she knew about certain people and events. Emephia always seemed to know everything people were saying behind others backs, regardless of whether it was true. Even now, at the start of sixth year, none of us knew how she finds it all out so quickly. Though I'm not sure if I ever want to know. Penny's always saying that she'd make an excellent journalist, kind of like Rita Skeeter. I'm pretty sure Penny meant it as an insult, Emephia took it as praise.

"- so it's possible that their not together anymore, but I personally think that their faking the break up to get everyone off their backs about the whole thing." Emephia finally finished her speech on the relationship between Milo Hansell and Georgia Jiles in the year above us.

"We haven't even arrived at Hogwarts yet! How do you know all this already?" Penny demanded, voicing what I'd thought for the past few minutes.

"I bumped into a few people on the train." Emephia simply shrugged and Ellie rolled her eyes.

The carriage suddenly shuddered as it came to a stop, causing me to make an effort to stay seated and not fall forward on the floor. I tried to brush some of the dirt Ellie had transferred to me off my uniform before clambering off the horseless carriage after Penny. We all started to head to the castle when a voice was heard from behind us.

"Why are you covered in mud?" I turned to see a tall boy with black dreadlocks looking pointedly at Ellie and Penny. I smiled at his untidy uniform and loose tie, similar to how Penny's uniform looked after she wrestled Ellie before jumping out the carriage with her tie. However, I knew that this disorganisation was done purposely on his part. Lee Jordan hated order.

"Penny had a problem with her tie." Ellie stated, sending her friend a glare. Penny smiled back innocently. Lee looked confused for a moment before shrugging to himself, obviously deciding that he didn't want to know. I guessed that by being best friends with Fred and George, he stopped asking questions long ago. Mentioning the twins, where were they? Normally where there's Lee, Fred and George weren't far behind. I looked around the area, but after seeing no sign of them I settled that they must have already headed on towards the castle.

"Do you think McGonagall and Snape will let you bunk off the welcome feast?" Lee asked as we started walking to the castle, staying behind a group of fourth years. Ellie scowled at the thought.

"I doubt it," she huffed "I'm going to get you back for this Pen." Penny expression changed to exaggerated hurt as she turned to Ellie.

"Hey! I've got to go to the hall like this too!" She cried, shaking her shoeless foot and gesturing to her grimy clothes and hair.

"You know, If I push you into the lake it'll get rid of the dirt," Ellie hissed back before stopping in her track. Her eyes widened as she muttered to herself, "that's not actually a bad idea." Oh no. Please tell me she's not going to.

"What would you prefer," Ellie swiftly turned to Penny, hope apparent in her voice,"Walking into the great hall covered in dirt, twigs and merlin knows what else or soaking wet?" Yep. She's going to.

"No! You'll probably be breaking the rules." I told her concerned. It's only the first night! Even the twins hadn't gotten a detention on the first night. Lee, smiling as he'd figured out what Ellie was talking about doing, looked at me mischievously.

"Aww, Cassidy. Even though you've never broken a rule in your life, I don't think Baylee or Taine care about a detention." He patted me on the head, causing me to duck and move away. Lee and the twins found my height (5 ft) funny and had taken up the habit of patting my head whenever they saw me. It didn't annoy me any-more because I'd gotten used to it over the past few years, but I still duck and back away.

"I'd rather be soaking wet," Penny smiled, ignoring Lee and I, in answer to Ellie's question. Lee happily steered the group in the direction of the lake.

"Isn't there a spell that'll clean you?" I asked in a last attempt to stop them. Penny shook her head whilst Ellie shrugged and glanced at Emephia, our fellow ravenclaw.

"Yeah, there's quite a few spells actually," Emephia smirked, "not that I can remember any of them though." I groaned. I tried to think of any other excuses to stop them but nothing came to mind by the time we reached the glistening lake. Having never been out after curfew, I hadn't gotten the chance to see the lake at night before. The moon's reflection on the calm water would've usually caused me to feel a sense of peace. However, what my friends were about to do stopped me from feeling anything but stressed.

"Fine. Go ahead and do what you want," I gave up, "I'm going to head to the great hall now, though." I was way too hungry to look after them when they came out of the lake with hypothermia. Plus I didn't trust them enough to not drag me with them, especially with Lee accompanying.

"What!"

"Why?"

"Come on Cleo!"

"I don't need to take a swim! I'll see you inside!" I called back when the wave of voices overwhelmed me and I changed direction back to Hogwarts. Light illuminated out of the castle door, inviting me in to the warmth. With each step I took I pictured the different food that will appear on the tables to eat. I wonder if the feast had started yet? We had taken a long time to walk up the path. I hadn't seen the first years with Hagrid yet, but they could've passed without me noticing.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't see two people coming my way until I literally bumped into the chest one of them, causing me to stumble. A strong arm reached out and gripped my shoulder tightly to stop me from falling. I looked up to apologise to who I'd walked into and saw a cheerful red-head grinning down at me.

"Cleo! As elegant as always." Fred greeted happily, letting go of my shoulder. I took a step back and realised I'd made it to the doors of the entrance hall.

"Hey Fred," I smiled. I then noticed his twin beside him looking amused. "Hi George. Why aren't you two in the great hall?" The two glanced at each other and their smiles turned to smirks.

"You know, miss Cassidy." George started, crossing his arms.

"We could ask you the same thing." Fred continued, his hands going to his hips.

"It's quite suspicious, being out here all alone."

"With everyone else in the great hall."

"If we didn't know you that well."

"We'd say that you were getting up to -"

"Mischief!" They said the last word in unison. I inwardly clapped. Even after knowing them for years, I still got amazed when they managed to communicate like that. If it wasn't for a few tiny differences in their appearance and voices, I would say that one was just a clone of the other. Their ability to know what the other was thinking, have silent conversations and finish each other's sentences is really impressive. Not that I'd let them know this, of course. I didn't want to boost their ego's any more, their heads were big enough already. I smiled a little at them instead.

"Good thing you know me well then. I was just held up by Ellie and Penny." I said and turned to look outside. I couldn't see much in the darkness, but I could faintly make out a few balls of light from where the lake should be. That must mean Hagrid hadn't gotten here with the first years yet. I hoped my friends managed to not get caught. Or at least didn't scare the children too much. I could imagine Penny jumping out of the black water at some unsuspecting innocent student.

"We were looking for Lee." Fred finally answered from before. George scrunched his eyebrows together in concern, now reminded of why they had left the hall.

"Oh! He's by the lake with Penny, Emephia and Ellie." I let them know and concern disappeared from their faces.

"Why's he with them by the lake?" George asked, clearly confused.

"Probably so he could push one of them i-" I started but was interrupted as the boy we were discussing rushed by us laughing his head off.

"Oi!" Fred called to Lee as his best friend went to enter the great hall. He'd obviously not noticed us.

"Got to go in before she kills me!" Lee called back without stopping. The door to the great hall closed with loud bang behind him.

"Before who kills him?" George mused before looking outside and muttering a small "Ohhh." Fred's eyes widened as he followed George's line of sight and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. Curiosity got the better of me and I turned to see out over the grounds of Hogwarts. My eyes met with an angry blonde storming up the path. Dripping wet. _Lee is so dead_.

"I'm going to m-m-murder that gryffindor p-p-prick." Emephia shivered when she reached us. Her eyes were staring daggers at the door to the entrance hall. If looks could kill, the door would be in a million pieces. Fred and George backed away a few steps, keeping their distance from Emephia.

"Well..." Fred started, eyeing my friend cautiously, "it's been lovely bumping into you Cleo, literally."

"But we must be getting back to the great hall now." George finished. They both raised their hands, quickly patted my head and dashed off before I could do anything about it. I put my attention back to Emephia, who was still muttering about Lee.

"I ca-can-can't be-believe he p-p-p-pushed me in. No, I ca-can believe i-i-it. I can't b-b-believe we le-let him co-c-come. I'm going to m-m-mur-murder him." She said while her teeth chattered. Her blonde wavy hair clung to her glistening face and drooping uniform. Her body was shaking from head-to-toe. Whether this was from the cold or the anger at lee I didn't know. Probably both. I quickly took out my wand from my pocket and cast a warming charm over her that I faintly remembered reading in one of my textbooks. I barely remembered the incantation so I hoped it worked. Emephia sighed in content almost immediately, which I took as a sign that I got the spell right.

"You alright?" I asked. She nodded and muttered a small "thank you" while she tried to ring the water out of her tangled hair. I could hear voices and footsteps coming our way and looked to see Ellie and Penny, followed by Hagrid and the first years. The two girls were no longer covered in dirt and were in a similar state to Emephia. However, they seemed to be talking happily to Hagrid, so I gathered he must have cast (discretely, since he's not supposed to do magic) a warming spell over them.

"How you feeling, Em? Did you kill Jordan?" Penny asked Emephia as they came into the entrance hall and joined us.

"I'm feeling better thanks to Cleo," Emephia nodded her head towards me. "I'll get Jordan back later." She added venomously and glared at the door to the great hall again.

"I can't wait to see that." Ellie said cheerfully. She noticed me and looked confused.

"What are you doing here? You left us ages ago." Ellie stated. She shook her arms to get the water off, nearly accidentally smacking an eleven year old. The student ducked in fright and dashed away to the back of the crowd.

"Bumped into Fred and George." I laughed at her. Emephia perked up when she heard what I'd said.

"Oooh! You should've seen them. Turns out Roger Davies wasn't the only one playing quidditch all summer." Emephia smirked. Oh great, I had a feeling I was going to be hearing a lot more about the twins from her this year.

"Alright, you four!" Hagrid clapped his hands behind us, "Off you go to the great hall, the first years'll be coming in soon." We followed the half giant's orders and made our way into the great hall. I smiled at the sight of all the student's chattering animatedly, catching up after a summer apart. Over at the gryffindor table I saw the twins entertaining the crowd around of them. Lee, sat next to them, froze mid-laugh and tensed as he noticed us enter. He ducked down and tried to blend in behind Angelina Johnson, another gryffindor in our year. I laughed at his poor attempt to hide and noticed Fred let George carry on with their speech to chuckle at him too. The red-head looked towards us and gave me a wink when our eyes met. I quickly averted my gaze to Emephia, who was looking anywhere but the gryffindor table.

"So I'll see you witches tomorrow," Penny smirked. We all said our farewells and headed to our appropriate tables. Though I loved the feasts, I hated having to part from my best friends. We can sometimes get away with sitting together on normal days, but at the feasts sitting at a different house's table was a big no-no. Therefore with that in thought, Penny headed to the slytherin table, Ellie headed to the gryffindor table, Emephia headed to the ravenclaw table, and I headed to the hufflepuff table.

"Hi Cleo!" Cedric Diggory, a hufflepuff in my year, greeted as I sat down at the table, "did you have a good summer?"

"I did thanks. How about you?" I answered cheerfully. I made small talk with him and the other hufflepuffs in my year until the first years came in and the sorting started. I glanced at the other tables to see how my friends were doing while a small brunette got sorted into gryffindor. Ellie and Emephia seemed fine, though Emephia occasionally glared over at the gryffindor table at Lee. Penny, though, was the one I was most worried about. The slytherin house was big on their blood and a lot of the students in it looked down on people like me (muggleborn). Since Penny didn't care about blood status, and told people who did care that they needed to go get a grip and sort their life out, she'd made more enemies than friends in the house. Because of this, she barely ever sat at the slytherin table for meals.

She was sat at the table with a great gap between her and the nearest student. I couldn't tell whether this was because they didn't like her or because she was soaking wet. Either way, Penny didn't seem to mind. She actually looked quite content while she watched the first years get sorted, even clapping when some were sorted into slytherin.

I finally tore my gaze from my friends when there was only a few first years left standing for the sorting. I could almost smell the food already.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Authors Note: This chapter contains Emephia and Ellie POVs. If you like (or don't like) what you read feel free to leave a review, it helps more than you think! also, if you would like to request a certain characters POV go ahead, it's nice to know what characters you prefer reading of._**

Emephia:

The morning after the feast I sat at breakfast eavesdropping in on the students around me as I waited for my friends to wake up. There was only one thing on Hogwarts' mind at that moment: the Triwizard Tournament.

There wasn't anyone in the school that was not excited for the Triwizard Tournament. The three cute ravenclaw boys next to me were excited about entering and were discussing what they would spend the prize money on if they won. A small girl and her sleepy friend sat opposite me were excited about the tasks that the champions had to compete in and were debating whether or not it'd include duelling. Four hufflepuff's on the next table were, very loudly, excited about the "hot French birds" that would be visiting the school from Beauxbatons, which caused several more people to gossip about the visitors from abroad. Even Fred and George Weasley, behind me on the gryffindor table, were chatting about the possible ways that the students would enter (through teachers, putting their name on a list, duelling a dragon) and how they were going to trick their way to enter under-age. It was going to be so amusing to watch when their plan went terribly wrong.

However, the person my main focus was on wasn't even in the hall. _Lee bloody Jordan_ , the prat who pushed me into _the fucking great lake_ , was absent for breakfast. Though, he wasn't the only one who hadn't come down yet, but I fortunately knew the Weasley twins. The twins would not let Jordan sleep longer than them, they thought it was "unfair that he should get that luxury when they had to go through the torture of waking up early". So, either the infamous Weasleys had decided to be nice to their idiot friend, which I doubted, or Jordan was avoiding me. Oh well, I could spend that time thinking of ways to get him back.

Firstly, there was the obvious way: Push him into the great lake. But that would be matching his behaviour. No, I wanted to over-shine his behaviour so he would never even think of playing a joke on me again.

Second, there was the easiest way: Create some terrible rumour that would embarrass and humiliate him. No one would question what I'd told them because I passed round loads of rumours all the time. However, that was most likely what Jordan expected as payback and why he was avoiding breakfast. He probably thought I'd spread something nasty already and didn't want to face it, the coward.

I didn't like making things up. Sure, I was aware that half of the stuff I hear from people weren't true, but I was just the messenger. I could easily separate most of the facts from lies and I would tell people what I thought if they asked. Hardly anyone asked. If there was a rumour going about that was life ruining, I would check up on it thoroughly before telling anyone else about it. Though those were the ones that usually got around the school whether I got involved or not.

For that reason, I had to either spread an embarrassing rumour of Jordan that wasn't of my own creation, or do something unexpected to get him back. So far I'd only heard that Jordan and a gryffindor in my year, Angelina Johnson, hooked up during the summer. Not embarrassing and was total bullshit. Angelina currently fancied Fred Weasley. Or was it George? I need to learn how to tell them apart. Anyway, we were also on friendlyish terms so I didn't want to do anything to hurt her.

Ugh. That plan of revenge was going to be hard.

"Hi!" A cheerful voice startled my thoughts and I jumped in surprise. Cleo sat neatly beside me at the table. Bloody hell I needed to put a bell on that girl. Or at least teach her to walk loudly. I swore she tiptoed everywhere.

"Where have you been?" I questioned, "Everyone's been given our timetables' already and breakfast will be over soon." Cleo smiled and dug through her backpack.

"I was helping Professor Sprout carry some Cobra Lily plants to the greenhouse. She gave me my timetable." She pulled out a piece of parchment, her timetable, and waved it in emphasis.

"What are you taking?" I grabbed the timetable out of her hand. Cleo then took my timetable from next to my breakfast and read over it as I skimmed over hers. Cleo and I were only taking two classes together from then onwards. Charms and Astronomy.

"You're taking Defence Against the Dark Arts? I guess you can tell me what the new Professor is like." Cleo said. _Oh yes, Professor Moody_. If the students weren't discussing the Triwizard Tournament, they were talking about Professor Moody. Apparently he was an auror. A dark wizard catcher. He may have scared most the students, but I thought he'd be great at teaching defence since he'd probably lived through what he was going to teach us. I couldn't wait for the first Defence lesson.

"Why are you still taking muggle studies? You're a muggleborn." I once again jumped in surprised, now with Cleo joining in, as a voice startled us. Penny stood behind me, peering over my shoulder to read Cleo's timetable. Turned out their were two people I needed to attach bells to.

"The topics they chose to study about us are interesting." Cleo defended once she'd calmed down. I rolled my eyes at her use of "us". She may be a witch, but no one would be able to get Cleo away from her muggle heritage. She thought of herself as much as a muggle as her family was.

A flash in the corner of my vision caught my attention and I noticed Ellie dash through the entrance and to the nearest table, slytherin. At least one of my friends didn't sneak around silently like a bloody ghost. She quickly grabbed a couple of pieces of bacon and whipped her head around the hall in search for us. I could see the slytherin boys around her saying something while looking tense so I called out before they started anything.

"Ellie! Over here!" Her body relaxed and she strolled over with the bacon stuffed in her mouth. Her hair didn't look too different than it did when she'd wrestled Penny last night and her uniform looked like she'd dressed in a rush. I guessed she woke up late. I grabbed my wand out of my bag and waved it over Ellie's body. Instantly her uniform unruffled and her hair smoothed out. I'd researched a few beauty and tidy spells last night, so my friends and I never had to go to dinner again looking like we did at the welcome feast. I didn't think I'd ever been that embarrassed in my life.

"Thanks," Ellie said with a mouthful of food. I grimaced. That girl needed to learn her manners.

"How is it that I was the only one who was on time?" I exclaimed.

"Because you get up early anyway." Penny looked at me like I was crazy. I elbowed her in retaliation. Not my fault my parents didn't let me sleep past 8am.

"Ow!" she cried and moved away. She sat down on Cleo's other side and held her stomach. "That hurt!" Ellie laughed and Cleo hid a smirk. The food on the tables suddenly disappeared and the students around us started to head to their first lesson. Cleo and I gave our timetables back to each other.

"Shit!" Ellie cursed and got up off the bench. "I've got to get my timetable off Mcgonagall." She scampered off in search for the gryffindor head. Penny too stood.

"I've got to find Snape, tell him I overslept and need my timetable." She didn't look happy about having to talk to the professor. I didn't blame her. Snape's a twat. He was better towards the slytherin students though, not that it was much of an improvement.

"I'll walk with you to muggle studies." I told Cleo as we headed out of the hall. "I've got a free period."

* * *

Ellie:

I managed to flag down professor Mcgonagall, get my timetable and arrive at my first lesson on time. Cleo and I managed to grab seats at the back, giving us a great view of the class and the students in it. Specifically the gorgeous ravenclaw quidditch chaser, Roger Davies, two rows in front. Cleo didn't seem to mind the view either, as Davies had partnered with his best friend Kenneth Towler. She'd had a crush on the guy since he'd saved her from getting attacked by a plant in herbology in 4th year. He was no Roger Davies, but he was cute and the girls in my dorm spent a ridiculous amount of nights giggling about his rugged long dark hair and "sparkling" blue eyes. And he most definitely didn't deserve Cleo's attention. That was probably the "older sibling" instinct, that everyone associated with Cleo seemed to have, talking. But she was too innocent. The girl hadn't even had her first kiss yet! It was wrong to develop these feelings for a boy who'd had his more than fair share of girls, including an on and off thing with Emephia. I wasn't sure what had gone on between them two, and I didn't want to know, but Emephia put a stop to it once she found out how Cleo felt. She actually turned quite cold towards Towler, due to that protective instinct. Cleo didn't know but the rest of us girls had stopped her and Towler interacting as much as possible for the past two years. Only Emephia, Penny and I knew about this crush. Merlin knows what would happen if the others found out. Cedric Diggory and Leo Pure, another hufflepuff, would threaten him. Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet would most definitely hex him. Lee would probably curse him while he slept. Fred and George would blast off a certain part of his anatomy. Even a few of the slytherins were protective over Cleo, due to her kind nature, and would most likely do something to the poor sod. It would be amusing but a lot of trouble, which was why we tried to keep it as secret as possible. Plus, Cleo would die if anyone else knew. She barely even talked to Penny, Emephia and I when we found out.

My thoughts were interrupted by my notebook on the desk changing colour. I smiled and turned to page 305. _How's muggle studies going?_ , was messily written on the top of the page. Penny's handwriting.

 _It's good! Learning about muggle school at the moment_ , appeared underneath. I looked over to find that Cleo had opened her notebook too.

 _How fun_ , came up in neat cursive. Emephia.

 _Apparently muggles have to learn their own language!_ , I joined the conversation.

 _English is more than learning the language, Ellie. It teaches you about writing stories and stuff_ , Cleo replied.

Penny and Cleo came up with these notebooks a few years ago, to help us communicate without an owl. Cleo got the idea when she told me about a instant messaging thing called texting, done with a muggle device called a mobile phone. Penny decided to make it a notebook so we could talk during class and make it look like we're taking notes. They charmed the book so it worked normally on all the pages except 305, which anything written on it would appear on page 305 of the other's books. Mine's cover was also charmed to change colour when there was a new message. The colour change was a bit suspicious, but wouldn't give away to anyone what it meant so I thought it would help me not miss anything. Cleo's was charmed so her name, written on the inside of the cover, would change colour. Penny's was charmed so the hogwarts crest on the cover would change to the slytherin symbol. Emephia didn't have a charm, worried that a know-it-all ravenclaw would be able to figure out what it meant.

We carried on with the conversation till the end of the lesson. I headed to the dungeons and met up with Emephia and Penny for potions. The class started rubbish as usual. Snape gave us a ridiculously advanced potion to brew and let us get on with it without help. I partnered with Penny, Emephia partnered with Alicia Spinnet.

"How the hell are we supposed to do this!?" Penny complained after putting two newt eyes into the boiling cauldron. "It says here that we have to apply the beetroot powder four minutes and twenty-four seconds after we've added the newt eyes to the cauldron. It's down to the second! We need to start counting." A noise at the back of the room startled us and we turned to see Lee Jordan walk into the class and apologise for being late, claiming that professor Sprout needed him for something. Emephia, opposite me on the table, tensed.

"Very well." Snape seemed satisfied by the note Lee had given him. "You'll have to partner with Mr Crosswell." Lee nodded and headed over to Mike Crosswell, who caught him up with what he'd missed. We spent the rest of the lesson trying to figure the potion out. No one got the chance to chat because the task needed our whole attention. If Snape was expecting us to get it perfect, he was in for a big surprise.

"It says it should be teal. Ours is definitely not teal." I said to Penny when we finished the last step. We both looked sadly at our vibrant orange potion.

"It's because we didn't count right when putting the beetroot in. Or maybe we got the measurements wrong for the goat's eyelashes." Penny sighed and went over the instructions again.

"Ours isn't much better." Alicia stated while Emephia stirred their glittering purple potion. "It looks better than Lee and Crosswell's potions though." She smirked to the other side of the class. I followed her line of sight and saw the two boys staring confused at the black liquid in their cauldron.

"I don't want to know what that would do to someone." I laughed. Emephia perked up a little from the brooding bubble she'd been in since Lee walked into class and looked over at him with a glint in her eye that I usually see in the boy she was staring at or the twins.

"Emephia?" I asked, intrigued by this new development.

"Yes?" She answered sweetly and smiled.

"What you thinking?"

"Revenge." If I hadn't been looking at her so closely, I would've missed the quick flick of her wand in Lee's direction. His potion suddenly exploded and drowned him and Crosswell in thick black gloop. Emephia watched with a satisfied smirk.

Snape sent them to the hospital wing not long after. The potion stuck to everything it came in contact with and Snape had told everyone in the class to get out so he could get rid of the rest of it. Emephia dragged a very shocked Penny and I through the corridors to the library, where we found our tiny hufflepuff friend.

"Emephia's finally cracked!" Penny cried at Cleo. Madam Pince sent us a glare and snapped a "be quiet" to Penny.

"Sorry." Penny apologised to the librarian in a hushed tone.

"She made Lee's potion explode all over him and Mike Crosswell. They were sent to the hospital wing." I continued in an excited whisper. It was brilliant! Who knew Emephia had it in her. She never pulled pranks, that was usually Penny and I. Cleo looked at us in surprise and she quickly pulled us out of the library, levitating her stuff along the way. She adopted her mother act that came out when she got worried and angry with us and pressed her lips firmly together.

"What!" Cleo rounded on Emephia, "are they okay?!" I inwardly laughed, of course she's worried about the people who got hurt and not whether Emephia got in trouble.

"They'll be fine." Emephia waved her off. Cleo looked at her incredulously.

"Were they hurt?" Cleo asked concerned.

"No..." Emephia dragged with her face screwed up a little. Cleo raised her eyes expectantly at her to continue. Merlin, she would make a good mother in the future. She's got the cross look down already.

"They were complaining about it feeling funny, but they weren't in pain." Penny finished for Emephia, leaving out how the potion dried rock hard and the boys were barely able to move. Cleo's attitude softened a bit but she was still eyeing Emephia. I laughed and hugged our new prankster.

"Welcome to the club, Emephia! Messing with people will be so much easier now that there are three people." I cheered happily. Penny smiled and agreed. Emephia looked at us two bouncing on our feet and groaned.

"No no no." She put her hand out in a "stop" gesture. "This was a one-off thing for revenge. I won't take part in anything else. I'm completely done. I'm going up to my common room now." She waved at us and rushed desperately off through the corridor. A chorus of abuse followed her from Penny and I.

"Come on, let's go to transfiguration." Cleo laughed.

Transfiguration turned out alright. Mcgonagall gave us a big speech about our NEWTs and we got to choose our partners. Though Penny and Cleo were "strongly advised" by the professor to pair up. This happened every year, Mcgonagall didn't trust Penny and I together in a class. I partnered instead with one of the Weasley twins, who was surprisingly missing his other half.

"Where's Fred?" I asked as I sat down next him at the table. George feigned hurt.

"I'll have you know that Fred and I are two separate people and are capable of being apart." He replied and I rolled my eyes.

"He didn't pass transfiguration, did he?"

"Nope. got a Dreadful." George said cheerfully. I wasn't surprised. Actually, I was more surprised that George managed to pass.

"What did you get?" I asked.

"What is this twenty questions?" George fired back. Ooo, someone was a bit touchy about their grade. "Anyway, how did you know I was George?" He added.

"Lucky guess." I shrugged. It was true. I, just like pretty much everyone else, couldn't tell George or Fred Weasley apart. Lee even told me that their mother got them mixed up sometimes. I bet that was due to the twins messing with her too much and confusing her. The only people who could tell them completely apart was Lee and Cleo. Lee had lived with them more in the past five years than their mum had so I guessed that would explain that. But Cleo? She couldn't even tell how she knew them apart, no matter how many times the twins tried to fool her.

"Always a lucky guess." George muttered dissapointedly under his breath and I had to strain to hear him. I didn't get time to think into what he'd said because a split second after Professor Mcgonagall started giving instructions on how to transfigure beetles into pincushions. By the end of class, only three people in the class had managed to completely transform their beetle. Mine looked like a weird lump and George's beetle had a soft top.

Fred was waiting outside when we finished and he grabbed George as soon as we stepped into the corridor. George called a quick "bye Ellie!" as Fred quickly dragged him away to probably get up to some kind mischief.

I didn't see the twins again till later that night, when I was in the gryffindor common room. I sat in front of the fire, trying to get the hang of knitting the muggle way. I'd always had a liking for crafty things and had mastered the magical way of knitting a couple years ago but found it boring. I found a book over the summer with patterns and techniques for doing it like a muggle and thought I'd give it a go. It had gone alright so far, I was halfway through a decent-ish scarf. I had just finished another row when the entrance to the common room opened. Since it was well past midnight, and all the other students had gone to bed, I could hear their conversation.

"You sure it was her? You did get the potion wrong, it could've just exploded anyway." One of the twins clambered through. Fred?

"No, George." Oh, that answered it. "You should have seen her face when I passed her. It was definitely Virgo's fault." An angry Lee appeared in the room after George, closely followed by a laughing Fred.

"You did deserve it mate. You seriously thought she wasn't going to get revenge on you pushing her in the lake?" Fred chuckled. Lee groaned.

"I thought she would spread some rumour. Not cover me in a fucking potion. Madam Pomfrey got it all off but I can't stop bloody itching." Lee viciously scratched his arm. Emephia would love how worked up he'd gotten. George then noticed that I was in the room and walked over.

"Out after curfew?" I said and shook my head at him in shame. "That could get you a detention you know." George sat cross-legged next to me on the floor. His bright red hair had grown a lot over the summer holidays and was shining in the warm firelight.

"And how many times have you been out after hours miss Baylee?" George laughed.

"touché" I nudged his shoulder and he laughed louder. Fred and Lee looked our way.

"Ellie!" Lee stopped his rant when he saw me. "Tell Virgo that she's started a war!" He then stormed up the boy's staircase muttering curses towards Emephia and carried on scratching everywhere. I had a feeling that things were about to become very interesting for my ravenclaw friend.

"Technically, you're the one that started the war by pushing her in the lake." Fred called to Lee and followed him up the staircase. Leaving George and I alone.

"I guess I've got to tell Emephia to watch her back." I commented. George nodded in thought.

"Judging by today, Lee's the one that should watch his back." He laughed and I smiled at the memory of Emephia's sudden mischief. George and I carried on talking for a while. About Emephia and Lee, what we did over the summer, our new classes. We eventually abandoned our places on the floor for the sofa. George sat up with his arm around my shoulder and I was leaning into him with my legs curled up against his. We had been in this position for the past ten minutes in silence. Relaxing in the peaceful environment and watching the fire flicker.

It was nice, whatever that was. We'd always been good friends. Our troublesome personalities made it almost impossible to not be. There were many nights where we'd sit, joke and plan pranks. But Fred was usually there too, and they normally never shut up. I thought they just hated silence. However, George looked perfectly content at that moment. It was completely new territory for me.

"What were you doing when we came in?" George asked and broke me out of my thoughts. I followed his line of sight and saw my project laying discarded on the carpet.

"Oh! Knitting." I answered happily, lifted George's arm and got off the sofa, not noticing the look of disappointment on George's face when I left him. I felt a loss of warmth that caused me to move closer to the fire and I picked up the scarf, wool and needles. George looked confused at my work.

"What are you knitting?" He tilted his head, as if a different angle would help him figure out what it was. I huffed.

"A scarf." I frowned. It was obvious what it was. George burst out laughing and quickly put a hand over his mouth to try to calm down. I not-so-patiently waited for him to sort himself out, tapping my foot on the floor repeatedly.

"How did you manage to mess up a scarf!?" He stopped trying to hide his amusement and laughed even louder. I angrily shushed him and crossed my arms. I hadn't messed it up, he was trying to get a rise out of me.

"I didn't mess it up. You can easily tell what it is." I defended.

"It's terrible." He raised himself off the sofa and came over to get a better look.

"It's only half done. It'll look better once it's finished." It wasn't perfect, of course. It was my first try, I didn't expect it look great. But it wasn't hideous either. George was being plain rude! How dare he!

"Sure." George didn't look convinced.

"Fine!" I cried. "You're not getting one for Christmas then." He startled for a second and managed to stop laughing. I'd got him interested.

"What do you mean?" His eyes shone with amusement.

"I was going to knit everyone a scarf for Christmas. But since you don't like my scarves, you won't get one." I waved the scarf in front of him to add emphasis to the sentence. I didn't mind not knitting him a scarf, it meant less work for me. He grabbed my wrist and smiled.

"I didn't say I don't like your scarf. I was just saying that your knitting skills need improving." His eyes softened but his voice was still playful.

"There's a difference?" I asked. George nodded and let go of my wrist. His touch lingered and I had to shake the sudden tingley feeling that shot up my arm. What is going on with me? This is George!

"I would wear your questionable scarf with pride if you gave me one." He announced and took the purple accessory out of my hand. I gave him a shove for the use of the word "questionable".

"I think this colour suits me, don't you?" He held it up to his neck and spun around on the spot.

"Sure." Taking on the same unconvinced tone that George did earlier. He passed me the scarf back and his smile turned into a smirk.

"You know, I'm going to look great on Christmas in my knitted Weasley jumper from mum and whatever that turns out like." He said.

"Weasley jumper?" I asked. He shook his head in thought.

"My mum knits jumpers for everyone every Christmas. I still have the ones she made when I was a baby." His smirk changed once again to something I couldn't place as he went down memory lane. Though I could easily tell that those memories made him really happy. This Weasley jumper thing must have been a nice tradition. His mum had a good idea, knitting them clothes every Christmas. I guessed it must make the other people in George's family just as happy. I'd love to have a nice tradition like that.

"I think that's what I'm going to do." I claimed excitedly. George squinted at me.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Knit everyone scarves every Christmas." I smiled. George looked at me cautiously.

"Oh no. I've accidentally started something haven't I?" Uncertainty laced his voice. I wasn't sure whether he was proud of this or not. I guessed not.

"Something brilliant." It was a great idea. I wanted to create things that would make people feel warm and fuzzy like George obviously did with his mum's jumpers. To him, these jumpers were a symbol of home and comfort.

"My mum's going to love you." He said more to himself than me. Wait, when was I going to meet his mother? He glanced at me with a look I couldn't place and smiled.

"I better be going to bed." George shook his head and I got a feeling that he, again, said this more to himself.

"Alright." I said as he made his way to the boy's staircase. He looked back once he got there to say a small "goodnight" and quickly went up the stairs to his dorm.

"Goodnight." I muttered confused to the empty room. What was all that about?


	3. Chapter 3

_**Authors note: This chapter contains Cleo and Penny's POV. I also just wanted to thank the people who reviewed the story. I'm so glad that you like the characters! If you would like to request certain POV, you can. I prefer writing the characters that you want to read about.**_

 _ **If you like (or don't like) what you read, please review. It helps more than you think.**_

Cleo:

It was a couple weeks after term started and there was definitely something going on. I was the first down to breakfast and, since it was Ellie's round, I placed myself in the middle of the gryffindor table and waited for my friends, if they chose to come. It was a saturday, so I wouldn't be surprised if Emephia had already woken up, eaten breakfast and gone off to flirt with Mike Crosswell. She felt bad for getting him involved with the revenge on Lee, so had been given him special attention to make up for it. I'd give it another three days before she got bored. As for Ellie and Penny, they might not wake up until it was time for lunch. I still sat at the gryffindor table, though. Just in case they did wake up earlier than normal.

No longer than ten seconds after I got myself comfortable did three boys sit themselves around me. Fred Weasley on my left, George Weasley on my right and Lee Jordan opposite me. I didn't normally get suspicious by it. They usually keep me company if they noticed me eating alone. However, there was something off with them. I couldn't tell what exactly, but they kept sharing glances. I had a bad feeling that the silent conversation included me.

"Good Morning, Cleo!" George greeted and patted my head. I moved away from him and raised my arms to smooth down the hair that he'd messed up.

"Had a good day so far?" Fred asked happily. If they were trying to act normal, they were failing miserably. I could read Fred's face perfectly as he grabbed a slice of toast and dropped it on his plate, and it was far from innocent.

"Yes, you?" I replied cheerfully with a smile. I was not ready to know what they were doing yet.

"We've had a perfect day so far." Lee smiled so idiotically wide that I couldn't help but frown at his statement. Lee somehow grinned wider at my expression. What was he up to?

"That's good..." I said, not sure whether to question him. I diverted my gaze and put my focus on my breakfast.

"We tested one of our products on Stromstin today." Fred declared proudly and I almost sighed with relief. So that was what they were up to. It didn't involve me.

"How did it go?" I asked curiously. Though I didn't like them testing it on students, I really wanted their products to work. They put so much effort into the experiments and the magic was simply brilliant!

"Great! She hasn't stopped talking in rhymes." George said and I laughed as Lee followed to mimic Stromstin. The boys carried on joking around me and I laughed at their antics while I ate my breakfast. Ellie joined us a while later and George made room for her to sit between us. I noticed the affection in his eyes as George gave her a small smile and I couldn't help but grin. George was completely smitten with my best friend and she didn't have a clue. They were adorable and perfect together in every sense and I swore if he didn't make a move soon I would lock them in a broom closet together until he did.

"I bumped into Stromstin on the way here. She was pissed." Ellie told us with a grave look on her face. The twins shared a knowing look with each other across the table.

"Did she say anything?" Lee asked curiously. Ellie nodded and grabbed for her drink at the same time as George went to get the milk. George quickly moved away as their arms touched.

"Sorry." George mumbled, not sounding sorry at all, and Ellie carried on without really knowing it happened. I looked to my left at Fred, who stared at his brother in pity. Though George's crush seemed painstakingly obvious, only Fred and I knew so far.

"She told me that you guys deserved more than one detention from Snape." Ellie answered Lee about Bell Stromstin. She was a slytherin in my year. I'd never clashed with her, but I'd heard her use the word "mudblood" several times.

"Was she talking in rhyme?" Fred questioned. Ellie shook her head confused. Fred then rifled through his bag and took out a thick notebook and writing quill. Placing his bag back under the table, he flipped through the pages of the notebook in search for something. The book itself was a state. It had brightly coloured parchment ripped out and stuck in odd places and several suspicious stains dripped across it. Small random objects, like hairclips and stickers, acted as bookmarks and I could hear creepy whispering coming from one of them. Messy handwriting and sketches covered each page that Fred turned . There were notes scrawled down the margin, in tiny gaps between other sentences, upside down; there was no order to it. Fred somehow understood the mess because he stopped on a heavily filled page and scribbled something about the timing effects of " _Rhyming Ripples_ ". Wow. That was a lot of research.

"Maybe we should try adding more rose oil next time?" Fred suggested to George, who agreed. Fred left my side and moved to George. Ellie and I began a conversation while the others got distracted.

When Ellie finished her breakfast the topic turned to how we were spending the day. "Can we hang out outside by the lake?" Ellie asked pleadingly. "I heard that Roger and his lot are going to be over there later."

"Why would you want to hang around Davies?" Lee mocked. He wasn't fond of the ravenclaw quidditch captain. Ellie rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"Because he's a cute quidditch player." She said matter-of-factly. George got distracted by this and looked up from his conversation with Fred.

"I don't understand why all the girls fuss over him. He's not even a good chaser." He frowned.

"Our team is a hundred times better!" Fred agreed.

This peaked the interest of Angelina Johnson from further down the table. "We obviously are. But Davies is captain of ravenclaw for a reason." She rolled her eyes.

"Plus he looks like a greek god. Which is why all the girls fuss over him." Alicia Spinnet added dreamily and stared over to the ravenclaw table to find Roger Davies. She looked disappointed when he wasn't anywhere in sight.

Katie Bell nodded next to Alicia. "Good looks and great quidditch skills. He's the dream boyfriend."

Fred turned to his twin with a smirk. "Oh! That's why girls throw themselves at us then, Gred. Because we're dashingly handsome and amazing on the quidditch field." He exclaimed.

George put a hand to his chest and feigned hurt. "And I thought it was because of our lovely personalities, Forge." he took on the same tone as Fred. Ellie and Angelina shook their heads in shame while Katie rolled her eyes and Alicia raised an unimpressed eyebrow at them.

"Can your heads get any bigger?" Ellie voiced what we were all thinking. The twins turned to her.

"Nope." They stated in unison. Ellie again shook her head at their words and tugged on my arm to start moving, since we'd both finished eating. We had gotten out of the hall when Lee called us to stop.

"Can you do me a favour?" He asked sincerely. I nodded and Ellie raised her eyebrow for him to continued.

"Tell Virgo that it's her move." He smirked and dashed off back into the hall. I stared after him. Emephia's move on what?

"What's he talking about?" I asked. Ellie's face went from confused to worry as realisation hit.

"Oh no. Ohhhh no. We've got to find Emephia." Ellie pretty much snapped and hurriedly headed in the direction of the ravenclaw common room. I had to run to keep up with her. Ellie ignored my questions and kept muttering to herself. She mumbled in gibberish and I couldn't understand a word she said. I finally had enough when we'd gotten to the second floor. I grabbed her arm and dragged us through a crowd of third years. When we had finally gotten enough space, I forced her to face me.

"What is going on?" I demanded and Ellie muttered something incoherent. "Speak up. I Can't hear you."

She raised her voice. "I totally forgot to tell her. Lee knew Emephia exploded his potion and told me to tell her that she'd started a war. It'd been a couple weeks and he hasn't done anything, I guessed it was an empty threat. But he said that it was her move now. Oh Merlin! Emephia doesn't do well with pranks. Do you remember when I turned her hair blue in first year? She basically cried for a week after it came out. And that time in third year when the twins got rid of her voice. She wouldn't show her face for ages! She handled being pushed in the lake better, but knowing Lee, this prank is gonna be worse." Ellie rambled while I processed what she had said. Lee was getting revenge for Emephia's revenge. Ellie was right, this wasn't good.

That time I took the lead, with Ellie running to catch up. We took a few shortcuts, thanks to secret passages, and arrived at the ravenclaw common room entrance in record speed. Luckily for us, two ravenclaw boys in our year were coming out and saved us from answering the riddle. Cain Posey and Mike Crosswell abruptly stopped their conversation when they noticed us.

Cain wrinkled his nose and gave us a look of distaste. "Patricia told me that Emephia refused to come out of her dorm because of some silly prank Jordan did. I hope she isn't like this on monday. Missing a day of education will ruin her studying for NEWTS." He said stiffly, smoothed his already perfectly neat hair and carried on walking down the staircase.

Mike looked at us knowingly and shook his head at his friend's words. "Tell Emephia that I hope she's okay." He said wholeheartedly and caught up with Cain. Emephia's problem momentarily forgotten, Ellie stuck her nose up in the same way as Cain and mimicked what he'd said in an overly exaggerated posh voice.

"Don't be mean. He doesn't understand that other people don't think about school the way he does." I laughed and Ellie rolled her eyes.

"He's a stereotypical ravenclaw!" She cried. " He has way too much order to be a 16 year old boy. And we have over a year till our NEWT exams!" I had to agree with Ellie on that one. We walked through the entrance and into the airy circular common room. A warm feeling spread over me as I stared at the domed ceiling. It was painted with stars and I'd always loved it. I had spent quite a lot of time in here curled up on the comfy and soft midnight blue carpet with a book from the many bookshelves that covered the walls. There weren't many students in the room, since most were at breakfast or asleep.

In contrast to Cain, a tall, well toned, half asleep boy approached us in just pyjama trousers and unsurprising just-woken-up hair that stuck up everywhere. He smiled a little in greeting but glanced at the staircase to the girls dormitories cautiously.

"I got woken up by a scream. The girls are saying that Lee pranked Emephia." Roger Davies told us and I had to discretely nudge Ellie to stop her from drooling at his dishevelled (" _Sexy_ ", Ellie would later tell me.) half-naked appearance. I noticed a group of seventh year girls ogling too.

Ellie quickly composed herself. "What did he do to her?" She asked.

"Dunno." Roger shrugged. "But I don't want to be around when she gets him back." A friend then called his name so Roger quickly said goodbye and left us.

Ellie watched, _more like devoured with her eyes_ , his retreating body. "I think I'm in love." She sighed. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. With his body and looks."

"Hey! I'm not that shallow! He has a lovely personality too."

"You are that shallow. And you barely speak to each other, not enough to love his personality."

"Oh shut up. Let's go see Emephia." I followed her up the girls staircase but was not ready to let this conversation drop. I needed her to see that Roger was not the right wizard for her. That was as good a time as any to give hints.

"Seriously, Ellie. You need a relationship where chemistry matters more that good looks,-" Though I knew George would say that his great looks would certainly make the relationship better. "- a friend you know really well." I was desperate by that stage. Fred and I had made slight hints towards Ellie and George for about a year now, and as time grew on the hints were getting more forward and less cunning.

Ellie paused for a second lost in thought but shook her head a moment later and carried on up the stairs. Yes! She was totally thinking of someone! It had to be George. I knew she liked him, even if she didn't know it herself yet. I was just about to say something when a loud wail sounded from above us and we both raced up the stairs to the sixth year dorm. I tried to open the door but it was locked. Ellie got her wand out but even her magic wouldn't open it.

Ellie pounded the door forcibly. "Emephia open up! It's just me and Cleo!" We heard slight scuffling from the other side.

"Jordan is dead! Once I can come out, I'm going to kill him!" Emephia's muffled voice came through the door. She sounded a mix between despair and anger.

"Let us in, Emephia." I said soothingly. "What did he do?"

"No. You can't see me like this. I'm hideous." That time her voice racked with sobs.

"He messed with her face?" Ellie muttered to me quietly so Emephia wouldn't hear. "He crossed the line there. He knew what this would do to her."

"We just want to help, Emephia. Let us in." Silence followed for a few long moments.

"...Fine." Emephia finally relented and opened the door. Apart from her red puffy eyes that were swollen from crying, her face was perfectly the same. However, the cause of her crying was above her face. Protruding out of her hair, just past her forehead, were two noticable horns. They weren't massive, only a couple of inches long, but there was no hiding them.

"Madam Pomfrey might be able to fix it." Ellie said hopefully, having gotten over the shock quicker than me. We sat ourselves down on a bed.

Emephia shook her head panicky. "No no no no no. I am not leaving this room until they go away. I'm hideous!"

"You're not hideous." I told her. Emephia buried her face into her pillow and screamed. The points of the horns made sharp dents in the fabric and looked as if they would rip into the pillow. After a few long minutes, Emephia finally raised her face to reply.

"I am! And if anyone sees me I'm not going to hear the end of it!" She raged. Ellie patted her back in comfort. We had to do something, who knew how long the horns will be there. Well, Lee knew, and the twins probably did too. But they won't give the antidote to us without a price. That was most likely why they were acting all suspicious at breakfast.

"We'll just make sure no one sees you then. Or at least don't see the horns." Ellie said and stood up and went through Emephia's chest at the end of her bed. Emephia and I watched her curiously as she pulled out a big black sunhat. With a few spells, the hat's head space enlarged enough that it would hide the horns.

Ellie through the hat like a frisbee to Emephia. She caught it and smiled at Ellie gratefully. "Thank you." She raised a hand to her head and felt the horns, looking on the verge of tears again. "How are we going to get rid of them?"

"Want me to find Jordan and get him to tell me how to fix it?" A voice asked from behind us and I turned to see Penny at the doorway. She stared mesmerised at the horns.

"Yes! And don't go easy on him. He is going to pay for this." Emephia seethed.

"If he doesn't tell me, though, you have to go to the hospital wing." Penny told her before bounding back down the staircase with a mischievous smile.

"So..." Ellie adopted the same smile as Penny. "How are you going to get him back?"

* * *

Penny:

It took me a while, but I finally found Lee Jordan hanging out at the quidditch pitch with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. While searching, I tried to think of the best way to approach the situation. I could be nice, and coax the solution out of him. I could make a deal, I do something for him and he gives me the antidote. However, I decided that brute aggression sounded the best way.

"Oi! Jordan!" I shouted and immobilised him with my wand as he started to run away. Angelina and Alicia watched with amusement as I approached them and stopped just inches away from Jordans face.

"What." I said with force, jabbing my wand against his chest with every word. "Did. You. Do. To. Emephia."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Even when he had no advantage whatsoever, he didn't make it easy. I pressed the wand hard against his throat.

"Oh, I think you do." I said dangerously quiet. Jordan eyed the wand and gulped.

"Nope, no clue. What happened?" He shook his head and the corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile. I sighed in frustration, he was more stubborn than I thought he would be. I cast a jinx from my wand and a nasty rash appeared on Jordan's neck. He immediately started itching when I released the immobilising spell. I quickly snatched his wand off the floor, where he'd dropped it when I jinxed him, and twirled it between my fingers.

"Okay, we'll do this the hard way then." I stated while he narrowed his eyes. He didn't seem as amused as before. "Soon that rash is going to spread to your whole body. I give it about four hours. No spells or potions you try will be able to get rid of it. Only I have the antidote."

"What! This is not your fight, Taine. This is between me and Virgo. So p-" He started but I cut him off.

"Here's the deal. I'll give you the antidote if you tell me how to reverse what you did to Emephia." I smiled sweetly.

"We should've brought popcorn." Alicia murmured in a hushed whisper to Angelina. Angelina shushed her and watched our argument with fixed interest.

"If she apologises, I'd be happy to reverse it." Lee shot back. I glared at him.

"What did he do?" That time it was Angelina whispering and Alicia shushing.

"There is no way in hell that she will apologise!" I growled.

"Then everyone will know what a devil she is forever!"

"You know what? I think I'll speed up the jinx." I waved my wand and the rash spread rapidly to his arms. I could see his resolve quickly crumbling.

"I doubt you're the only one who knows the counter-curse. Madam Pomfrey probably sees this stuff all the time. She'll fix it in seconds." He said smugly and headed out of the quidditch pitch, not caring that I still had his wand.

"I'm the only one who knows the counter-curse because I'm the one who invented the spell!" I called to him. He stopped in his tracks and turned.

"You invented a spell?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes, so tell me how to fix Emephia." I demanded. He stayed silent for several minutes. I could see the battle going on in his head. Tell me, and get rid of the rash. Or don't tell me, and his revenge on Emephia stayed. Angelina and Alicia, still watching with interest, took bets on whether Jordan would take the deal or not. Eventually, he reached a decision and smirked.

"Fine. But you fix me first." He nodded. I rolled my eyes but reluctantly agreed. Behind me, Angelina cursed and handed a triumphant Alicia six sickles. I kept hold of Jordan's wand, in case he tried anything, and handing him a vial of potion from my bag. He took a big gulp and the rash immediately cleared from his arms and neck. He sighed from relief.

"So. What's the counter-curse to fix Emephia?" I asked impatiently. Jordan looked at me with a cross of amusement and caution.

"There isn't one." He stated. I stared at him blankly.

"What?" My temper rose again and I took a step towards him. Jordan put his arms up in surrender.

"Woah! The potion I gave her will last till monday morning." He said quickly while backing away. "Come on, Virgo started this! Now it's her move. If she wants it to end, all she has to do is apologise." I contemplated what he said. There was no counter-curse, Emephia just had to wait it out. I'd done what I came to do, kind of. I was also very interested to see if Emephia will react back. I also doubted that I would be able to make Jordan stop.

"I'm going to back off from this, because it is Emephia's fight," I huffed, "but if I find her physically hurt with bruises or something, I will murder you." I warned menacingly. Lee gulped, nodded and eyed my wand, which was pointing in his direction again.

"Got it." He mumbled. I dropped his wand to the floor and made my way back to the castle and Emephia. I didn't want to be the one to tell her the bad news.

"TILL MONDAY MORNING?!" Emephia cried when I told her. I looked at her with sympathy.

"Yeah. That's what Jordan said." I answered softly.

"This is good." Ellie piped up. "This means you won't have to see anyone, and when lessons start you'll be fine again." Emepha stopped her cursing towards Lee and looked at us hopefully.

"Yeah, and we can bring you food up from the kitchens so you don't miss meals." Cleo said cheerfully. Emephia's expression softened and she looked at us affectionately.

"You witches are the best." She smiled and tackled us all in a hug. We laughed and relaxed on her bed for the rest of the day, talking about everything but the horns. It was almost like normal. The closest we got to that subject was when Cleo brought up my interrogation .

"So how did you get Lee to tell you?" She asked. I laughed because Cleo probably thought that I'd tortured the boy. She wasn't entirely wrong.

"Used that new rash curse that I created over the holidays. It worked perfectly!" I lit up with a detailed retelling of the event. From the way Jordan had been stubborn to how he gulped in fear. Emephia's laughter filled the dorm as Ellie imagined slytherins we could prank with this jinx and Cleo wished she never brought it into the conversation.

"I'm starving." Emephia claimed when we'd settled back down. "Can you get me some food please?"

"Dinner should still be going on, we'll bring you something up from the hall." I said and Ellie and I headed to the great hall, leaving Cleo with Emephia.

"What do you think she's gonna do back?" I wondered aloud as we walked. My voice echoed off the walls of the empty corridor.

"No clue. I came up with a bunch of ideas, like turning his hair green or swapping his shampoo with hair removal cream, but Emephia turned them all down. I'm excited to see what it turns out to be." Ellie smiled. " I have to admit, that was a good prank on Lee's part, if it hadn't been done to Emephia. Do you think Fred and George created it?"

"Probably. I'm just worried that one of them is going to get hurt. Like, _seriously_ hurt." It had been worrying me all day. Lee and Emephia aren't known for backing down. And their pranks will only get more and more challenging. I had a horrible feeling that it would end badly.

"We've just got to make sure it doesn't. Or at least help as much as we can if it does." Ellie said seriously. We walked the rest of the way to the great hall in silence. We headed to the gryffindor table to snatch our food. We had planned to grab as much as we could and head back quickly so we could eat together in Emephia's dorm. However, the twins flanked us as soon as we got there. Surprisingly, they didn't come over for Ellie.

"Did you really create a jinx?" George asked amazed. He stood beside me as I grabbed a handful of chicken nuggets while Ellie grabbed a bowl of chips. I nodded.

"It was brilliant." Alicia said from further down the table. "I need you to teach it to me so I can use it on Lee too." Jordan glared her from across the table and threw a chunk of bacon at her. Alicia ducked and looked at him in disgust.

"Lee said the antidote was a potion." Fred stated from beside George.

"Yep." I again nodded.

"But you jinxed him. Shouldn't you fix it with a counter-curse?" He questioned.

"She created a spell and a potion for it, so you can fix it with a potion or a counter-curse. Whichever one you prefer." Ellie told them. The boys looked at me impressed.

"I prefer potion." I stated.

"That's amazing!" George exclaimed. "Have you ever thought about putting it in a sweet?" I creased my brow in confusion.

"Like one of your skiving stuff?" I asked. Fred and George created a line of sweets to help students get out of class. Depending on the sweet you ate, you could throw up, have a nosebleed, get a headache, develop a fever etc... I wondered why they wanted my spell in sweet form.

"Skiving snackboxes." They corrected me together. I rolled my eyes and motioned to Ellie for us to get going. We put the food in a massive lunchbox and made our way back out the hall. The twins followed.

"Have you created any other stuff?" Fred continued.

"Possibly." I said vaguely. The twins shared an excited look.

"How would you feel about teaming up?" He propositioned. I suddenly stopped walking and Ellie bumped into me from behind.

"Ow." She moaned and regained her footing.

"Teaming up?" I asked the twins, ignoring Ellie. George nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, we make products together. We can split the profits." I considered their offer. Making joke products did sound like a fun idea. And getting paid for the products sounded even better. Also, I'd never admit it out loud, but I had always loved the twins ideas and wondered on many occasions how they made them. They might be able to help on the inventions that I had trouble with, and I could help them with theirs. We had strong-points in different areas of magic, which would help too.

"Alright." I finally said and the twins engulfed me in a huge hug. They cheered happily.

"I want discounts on your stuff since I'm your best friend." Ellie announced as she headed towards the staircase.

"Of course." I chuckled and caught up with her.

"You can have them for free if you let us test them on you!" George called and Ellie responded with a rather rude hand gesture.

"You know," Ellie said when we were out of earshot of the red heads, "what with the triwizard tournament, the prank war between Emephia and Lee, and you teaming up with Fred and George, I think this year is going to be way more interesting than we originally thought." I couldn't help but agree with her. Whether it was a good interesting or a bad interesting, we had yet to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note: This is a chapter in Ellie's POV. It does contain a scene that you'll recognise from the books, but I tried to change and add bits so you don't get bored reading stuff you already know. If you like (or don't like) what you read, please review!**

Ellie:

"What do you think the other schools are going to be like?" Cleo asked with excitement. "Durmstrang has a bad reputation, but I bet the students are really nice. And the students of Beauxbatons, in my books, are basically described as disney princes and princesses."

"Is disney a place?" Penny asked, dangling her legs off the branch we sat on. We had climbed one of the large ancient trees on the Hogwarts grounds so we could get a good look of the new arrivals. The autumn sunset beautifully shone down on us, illuminating the scenery in a golden hue. The tree was so tall that, without even sitting at the top, we had a clear view of everything. Not far away, the rest of the school also waited. They stood lined up in perfect order. We should have been over there too, but we didn't want to get snapped at by the teachers. They'd been on edge all day. Making sure that the school and students looked presentable. I didn't understand it. Durmstrang and Beaxbatons were living with us for the rest of the year so they're going to see what we were actually like eventually. The teachers didn't expect us to behave and look like that for the rest of the year, did they?

Cleo laughed and shook her head. "No, it's a muggle thing."

"Oh." Penny said. "Well I think that we should avoid them all when they arrive. The whole school will get really obsessed with them because they're new and I don't want to get involved in that mayhem."

"Everyone's going to want to hang out with them. I think we should stay away too." I agreed.

Emephia, whose hair was now a glittering silver thanks to Lee's latest prank, pouted. "But what if they're really cute or cool? I can't not talk to them!" I rolled my eyes and shared an exasperated look with Penny.

"You can talk to them if you want Em." I said and her pout turned into a smile.

"I'm probably not going to talk to them either." Cleo said sadly. "You know me. I'm shy and not good with talking to new people. Especially if they're centre of attention and popular too." I felt a pang of pity for my hufflepuff friend. I wished she had more confidence, but I wouldn't change her if I could. Her shyness was the main reason we were all best friends in the first place.

We'd met on the train on our first day at Hogwarts. We shared a compartment and, despite our different personalities, we became good friends. Penny and I naturally hit it off straight away and we warmed up to Emephia because we found her excitement to finally get to practice beauty spells amusing. Cleo was quiet and nervous at first but our loud characters wouldn't let her be left out for long. Cleo managed to come out of her shell with us and have fun.

However, when we were sorted into different houses we drifted apart. It was hard not to. Penny drifted because of the big divide between slytherin and the other houses. Emephia didn't really have anything in common with the rest of us so she drifted to other people. I drifted when I started causing hell with Fred, George and Lee. The only one that stayed our friend was Cleo.

Her shy nature hadn't yet made her open up properly to her fellow hufflepuffs so she stayed with who she was familiar with: us. She hung around us separately and Penny was the first to drift back. A few of the other slytherins were criticising Penny for being around Cleo because of her "poor blood" so Penny told them to go fuck themselves. Penny then accompanied Cleo when she came over to me and Penny and I were reminded of how much we have in common and started creating trouble together, causing me to drift back in. Then Emephia realised how much she enjoyed our contrasting personalities and our group was complete. The rest, as the muggles say, is history.

"We could get you a cute french boyfriend, Cleo." Emephia eyes lit up. A blush crept across Cleo's face.

"No way." She said softly.

"Or a cute Bulgarian boyfriend." Penny added with a wink. Cleo then buried her head in her hands and we all laughed at her reaction. The girl went into a complete mess when we ever mentioned her in a relationship.

"He'd have to fit the criteria though." I said thoughtfully. Penny and Emephia nodded. Cleo shifted uneasily away from us. She sat the closest to the giant tree trunk.

"Not that stupid list." Cleo muttered venomously. "I don't understand why you made a criteria of the type of person I should date."

"Because we know you better than you do." Penny stated and Cleo sighed in frustration.

"Enlighten me then, what is my perfect boyfriend like?"

Emephia flicked her wand and a piece of parchment appeared in her other hand. She rolled it out and handed Cleo the list. Cleo took the paper and read it out loud.

"1. Cute." She chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"Like adorable cute. Not hot or sexy." Emephia said.

"I guess we could compromise for handsome, though." I added. "If he fits the rest of the criteria."

Cleo gave us an odd look and carried on. "2. Taller than Cleo." She broke in a fit of giggles. "Like that's hard to achieve."

"Yeah but he can't be too tall. We don't want him towering over you. The boy can't be over 6ft. But 5'10 or 5'11 would be ideal." Penny said. Cleo again looked at us oddly.

"3. Can't have black or brown hair. What's wrong with black and brown hair?"

"We just can't see you with a wizards with that coloured hair. You're like a witch version of sunshine. We always pictured you with someone with bright hair." I explained. "Like blond, ginger or unnatural colours."

"But with ginger it has to be like fiery bright, not auburn. And with the unnatural it can't be a dark or neon colour, only light or pastel." Emephia added.

Cleo yet again looked at us oddly. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"Down to every detail." I nodded.

"4. A love for books. That's obvious." Cleo smiled. "5. A love for animals. 6. A wish to travel. 7. Got to make Cleo laugh. 8. A loud or confident personality." She paused. "Why a loud or confident personality?"

"You need someone that's able to bring you out of your shell." Penny answered. Cleo happily agreed with that reasoning.

"9. Got to get on well with Emephia, Penny and Ellie. Well that's a definite one. 10. Doesn't run off after being intimidated by Emephia, Penny, Ellie, Lee, Fred, George, Leo, Cedric, Angelina, Alicia etc..." Cleo looked at us incredulously. "Why would you all intimidate my future non-existent ideal boyfriend?"

"Because you're too sweet and innocent to snog or do anything worse with anyone." Emephia said and Cleo's blush became a vibrant red. She quickly moved on to the last rule.

"11. Is not Kenneth Towler. Really? Was that necessary." She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." We said in unison. "Kenneth is a shitbag who goes against all the rules on that list. So you need to get over the crush now." Emephia ordered. Cleo was about to reply but noise from the students on the ground distracted us. A few students were shouting and pointing over at the forbidden forest.

"It's a flying house!" One of them exclaimed. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what he was talking about. Skimming over the trees was a giant, pastel blue, horse-drawn carriage. The winged horses silky smooth fur glimmered in the moonlight and the carriage seemed full of life with the firelight from the castle bouncing off the walls. All the students and teachers were speechless as they watched the golden elephant-sized pegasi land the carriage with a large bounce and thump. Many students jumped back in fright.

"Wow." I said after I got over the shock and surprise.

"I was not expecting that arrival." Emephia claimed.

"We definitely need to see inside that." Penny stated.

"Those horses are so adorable!" Cleo's eyes shone with admiration.

The large door to the carriage opened to reveal a boy in light blue robes. After unfolding a set of shiny gold steps, an abnormally big woman followed. Penny gasped beside me.

"She's got to be as tall as Hagrid!" She cried. The witches and wizards on the ground then broke into an applause and the woman approached Dumbledore. I was too far away to hear what they were saying so I focused back on the carriage. A dozen girls and boys emerged from the door, all wearing the same coloured robes as the first boy. It wasn't long before they made their way into the castle and we were left again. Waiting.

"There wasn't as many students as I'd thought there would be." Emephia said disappointed.

"That's because only the students most likely to get chosen as champions have come." Cleo said.

"That sucks." Emephia complained.

We were suddenly distracted by rustling coming from branches underneath us.

"Ow! You just stepped on my hand!" A familiar voice cried from below.

"Not my fault I fell, Weasley." Another voice hissed back. I internally groaned.

"Well, next time, make sure to fall somewhere else." A third voice stated.

"I can't believe you guys have managed to bicker the whole way up here." A fourth voice chuckled. We all shared a glance and Cleo looked down beside the trunk to try and find the four boys making their way up. Judging by the smile on her face, Cleo could see them.

"What are you doing?" She called down.

"Got tired of standing, thought we'd join you." The voice of Cedric Diggory answered. Emephia's eyes sparkled. I caught Penny's gaze and we made a mental pact to sit them away from each other. I do not want Emephia flirting with him the entire time we were sat here waiting.

"These prats followed us." The voice of Leo Pure added and that time I groaned aloud. He was Cedric's best friend and a complete pain in the arse. I only put up with him because he's good friends with Cleo.

"We were not following you!" George snapped.

"You were following us." Fred claimed. It was Cleo's turn to groan and she banged her forehead against the tree trunk. The twins and Leo had been at each other's throats for well over a year. I wasn't sure what happened, they weren't exactly friends to begin with but they were alright with each other. I had asked them what happened but they wouldn't tell me. Cleo said that they wouldn't tell her either, which made me want to know even more. It was either to do with a prank or a girl. Maybe one of the twins flirted with Poppy Birkshore when Leo was dating her in 4th year?

Penny stood up and smirked down at the boys from next to Cleo. "So why are you two following them?"

"We weren't following them!" George enforced.

"We thought that if Durmstrang came in a carriage like that then we'd have a better chance at not getting squashed by being up here with you girls." Fred told her. Cleo bent down to help pull up the first person, which turned out to be George. Ever since the night that I spent talking to George, I had really wanted to tell the twins apart. I did a lot of studying, the girls would say _"stalking",_ and I also asked Cleo how she did it. However, I still couldn't manage. In the end, I just plain asked them to sit next to each other and stay still while I tried to found out.

* * *

" _You want us to what?" Fred asked confused. I sighed angrily. We were in the gryffindor common room. Since it was late, and no one was around, I thought I'd ask them._

" _Sit down and stay still." I said for the fourth time. Fred and George exchanged a confused look._

" _Why?" They asked together._

" _Because something's annoying me." I answered vaguely. I knew that if I told them the proper reason then they wouldn't do it. They actually liked that people couldn't tell them apart. The twins again exchanged glances, though this time I could tell there was some mental conversation going on. After a minute they turned to me, reaching a conclusion._

" _Alright." They answered together. They sat at one of the tables on two chairs next to each other. George sat on the left, Fred on the right. They looked at me expectantly._

" _Now close your eyes." I ordered and, surprisingly, they obeyed. Without their questioning gazes on me, I found the task easier._

 _I grabbed a chair and sat opposite them, looking from one to the other. They were both slightly scowling, but George creased his eyebrows in thought while Fred's expression was peacefully neutral. George was fidgeting nervously._

" _How long do we have t-" He started but I cut him off._

" _Until I say so. Now be quiet" I snapped. "And stop moving!" George stilled._

 _I carried on looking at each in turn. I looked at their freckles, eyes, lips, nose, ears, expressions etc.. but nothing helped. Even their voices, when they annoyingly decided to question me, seemed exactly the same. It was frustrating. After about five minutes, when I gave a annoyed groan, George finally had enough and opened his eyes._

" _What are you doing?" He asked, looking at me sitting opposite him in concern._

" _I'll tell you when I've figured it out." I sighed softly, almost ready to give up. Fred opened his eyes too. However, when he saw me staring at them, he realised straight away what it was about. He burst out in laughter. George frowned at his brother._

" _Why didn't you just say why." He asked in between fits of laughter. I crossed my arms in anger._

" _Because you wouldn't let me if you knew." I replied. Fred laughed even harder._

" _Very true." Fred came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Can't have you knowing our secret."_

 _George watched the exchange with a bigger frown, still not knowing what we were talking about. I thought that was interesting, usually the twins always know everything together._

" _What are you two going on about?" He questioned harshly,_ _casting his brother a judgemental look_ _. I looked at him in shock. What was that tone for? Fred seemed to understand because he raised his arm off me and went over to his twin._

" _Ellie was trying to tell us apart." Fred stated and George's features softened._

" _Really?" George asked and turned to me. I nodded, embarrassed under his gaze. George reacted the same as Fred had and burst out in laughter. I huffed in frustration._

" _That was what it was all about?" George chuckled hard. Fred then joined him._

" _And we thought it was a prank!"_

" _I'm a little disappointed."_

" _Yeah, I was expecting to end up speaking in bird or something."_

 _It wasn't long until I joined them in laughing. I had to admit , the situation was kind of silly and I didn't go about it the best way. Plus their laughter was contagious. Fred was cackling like a maniac while George snorted in between chuckles. It was almost impossible not to laugh with them._

 _That was when it clicked in my mind. Their laughs are different! I must have heard them laugh a million times, how could I have never noticed before?_

" _I've done it!" I announced and tackled the nearest one, George, in a hug. He obviously didn't expect it and lost his footing, causing us both to tumble to the ground. Fred's laughter somehow turned up in volume. George smirked up at me where I'd landed on top of him._

" _You've done what?" He asked amused, one of his arms holding me in place._

" _I figured it out!" I said happily and hugged him in celebration. I was feeling a sense of achievement in figuring out something that barely anyone could._

" _What! How!?"_

* * *

I couldn't believe how easy it was and how I hadn't been able to see it before. Now I knew who was who, I finally noticed other differences. The two actually looked surprisingly different. Fred had a slightly younger looking face while George had more sharp features. Also, George's voice was a little higher than Fred's, and he often spoke softer. They're actions were different too. George had a habit of fidgeting when nervous or bored and Fred had a habit of biting his lip. It was weird how before, everything they did was identical. But now, I had to think harder to see the similarities.

George smirked at Cleo and patted her head before looking around at the rest of us. When his eyes met mine he smiled widely and slowly walked over, being careful not to lose balance. Although the branch we sat on were thick and could hold a good twenty people, it wasn't hard to get toppled over by the wind. The next person to get pulled up was Cedric, to Emephia's delight.

"Cedric! How are you?" Emephia greeted cheerfully, showing off her perfect white teeth.

Cedric smiled back. "I'm good, you?"

"Brilliant now you're here." She basically purred. Cedric's froze for a moment.

"Hey, Cedric. Have you done the transfiguration homework yet?" Penny interrupted quickly, giving me an incredulous look. We didn't know she'd act that quick.

"Yeah." He answered and turned around. Penny feigned a look of relief and grabbed his arm.

"Do you think you could tell me if I got it wrong? I wrote that..." She dragged on while pulling Cedric to the end and away from Emephia. Our ravenclaw friend understood what Penny was doing and shot daggers at her retreating figure.

"This is a cool view." George stated and sat next to me, swinging his legs off the edge. I stayed cross-legged and watched nervously at his bold move. I wasn't big on heights.

"Yeah, you should have seen the carriage coming from up here. It was amazing." I gazed out to the forest. George chuckled and was about to say something when a person behind us opened their mouth first.

"I bet it was. Did you see it nearly crush the first few rows of students?" Leo Pure squeezed himself into the tiny gap between George and I. George looked at him irritated but reluctantly gave him space. However, Leo stayed pressed close to me.

"How do you think Durmstrang will come? Flying carriages doesn't seem like their thing." Leo said. He gave me a cheeky smile which probably had melted a lot of girls hearts but I was having none of it. If it wasn't for the constant flirting towards me, I would have said that he'd make a good match for Cleo. He fits 7 of the 11 criteria rules. A lot of girls thought he was cute, he was taller than her (but only by a few inches), he had blond hair, he made Cleo laugh, was _way_ too loud and confident for his own good, he kind of got along with us girls, and he wasn't Kenneth Towler. He might fit more of the rules but I didn't know if he liked books, animals or travel.

"Leo, do you read?" I asked with a straight face. Leo gave me another one of his wide smiles.

"Of course, I love reading. Why?" He answered.

"Just wondering. Also, do you like animals?" I questioned. He raised an eyebrow in confusion but still answered.

"Yes?" He replied. Emephia and Penny, who were listening in on the conversation, realised what I was doing and had to cover their mouths to stop from laughing. George and Cedric watched us with bewilderment. Cleo, who had also heard, luckily didn't catch on since she got distracted by helping Fred up but stumbled a little and ended up falling. Fred almost got dragged down with her but gained his footing quickly and caught Cleo mid-air. He pulled her back up and they started laughing.

"What about travel? Would you like to go all around the world?" Penny carried on the conversation and turned to Leo. Cleo unfortunately tuned back in the conversation and understood what was happening. She blushed bright crimson and hid her head in Fred's chest. Fred looked startled for a moment but wrapped an arm around her and stroked her head in what he considered comfort. I bit my lip to stop the laughter.

"Not really. What is this. An interrogation?" Leo laughed. I shook my head in shame and Cleo raised her head from against Fred and glared at me dangerously. Well, she thought she was being threatening. That girl couldn't scare anyone.

"Leo. I'm disappointed in you. You were doing so well." Emephia said and it was the last straw. The three of us cracked and laughed our heads off.

The boys all looked at us puzzled while Cleo buried her head back against Fred. He then turned his puzzlement to her and back at us again, trying to connect the dots.

"What's so funny?" Leo asked, getting slightly self-conscious. We got saved having to answer by Durmstrang arriving.

"Look at the lake!" Lee Jordan's voice drifted up to us. We didn't need to be told though. Transfixed, all of us stared out at the water. The surface started to swirl, causing the muddy bank to get drenched. A whirlpool emerged from the middle and sent more waves tumbling over the edge. If that wasn't enough, a mast then appeared, slowly rising through the water. We sat there, mesmerised as a ship rose completely out of the water and glided towards the bank. A plank then lowered to the ground and a group of bulky people made their way over to the Dumbledore. I couldn't see much then because the sun had completely set, but I could make out one of them in silver clothes approaching the headmaster. A minute later and they made their way into the castle like Beauxbatons. The hogwarts students and teachers followed.

George clapped his hands together. "Well that was fun. Let's get going."

"Wait." Leo demanded. "Why were you guys laughing and questioning me before?" He asked. Cleo groaned and looked at me venomously. She was still leaning against Fred but got up and came closer to us.

"They were just going through some list. It was nothing." Cleo said and it was my turn to groan. She pretty much gave it away! Shouldn't she be embarrassed to tell anyone?

"List?" Leo said with interest.

Cleo nodded. "List." She confirmed and headed to the tree trunk to climb down.

"What list?" Leo asked. Fred, George and Cedric looked at her interested to know. Actually, Emephia, Penny and I were also interested to see what she would say.

"We made a list for Ellie's ideal boyfriend. They were asking you questions to see which of the rules you fit." She stated and a quickly jumped down before I could deck her. That little bitch! Emephia and Penny once again burst out in a fit of giggles.

"It wasn't my list! It was Cleo's!" I exclaimed but they didn't look convinced. Cedric and Fred looked amused while George frowned at Leo. Leo looked like he didn't know how to process that information.

I turned to Emephia and Penny. "Back me up here. It was Cleo's list." I told them but Emephia shook her head.

"I'm not getting involved." She said and Penny agreed. Cedric decided that he didn't want to get involved either and followed Cleo down the tree. I could hear her laughter drift up with the wind. The prat. Fred also shook his head and left. That left me, Emephia, Penny, George and Leo left.

"You have a list for an ideal boyfriend?" George questioned, starting to look slightly amused. I glared at him.

"No! Like I said, it was Cleo's list." I said with force.

"Why would Cleo have a list? She's never going to date." Leo said seriously with a frown. If I was in another situation I would've laughed along with Emephia and Penny. Even though he fit most of the criteria, Leo was far too protective and big-brotherly with Cleo to be considered a match. To be fair, Cleo's revenge was pretty good.

"Whatever. I'm going." I sighed and headed to the gap beside the tree trunk.

"Wait!" Leo called. "How many rules did I fit?" I ignored him and climbed down.

"9." I was still close enough to hear Emephia tell him.

"Out of 11." Penny added. I hated them all.


End file.
